


Sugar, We're Going Down

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 17:00:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis thinks Nick is having some sort of midlife crisis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sugar, We're Going Down

**Author's Note:**

> come chat with me on [tumblr](http://becauselouis.tumblr.com)  
> title from Fall Out Boy's sugar we're going down because i am uncreative when it comes to titles

At first Louis didn’t really think anything of it.

Nick had always liked to go out and party with his friends, it would almost be abnormal if he didn’t go get trashed at least once a week.

But lately it had become twice a week, then three times, until eventually he was out every other night, crawling back into bed in the early hours of the morning, sometimes just going straight to work if he was out late enough.

And that was fine, really. Louis enjoyed being able to spread out in their bed and not have to worry about Nick complaining about him star fishing across the mattress.

It also meant he could have all the lads over for FIFA and beers or movie nights and not have to listen to Nick complain about his home being overrun by children.

So while Nick was out living it up with god knows who, Louis decided it was his chance to take advantage of the quiet and invite the boys over to watch chick flicks (although if anyone asked they were marathoning something manly like Star Wars or the Saw movies or something).

They were spread haphazardly around the living room, pizza and chips scattered all over the floor and a pile of popcorn beside Zayn who had yet to notice Louis and Liam throwing kernels into his quiff.

They had already wept their way through the Notebook (while Zayn let out bored sighs every five minutes) and were halfway through Harry’s choice of Bambi when the front door slammed open and in came a very inebriated Nick.

“Enjoy yourself then?” Louis called over to the door, rolling his eyes at Nick who was fumbling around trying to take off his shoes and coat at the same time, his only achievement being getting himself into a tangled mess.

Nick grunted, finally managing to pull his shoe out of his sleeve (Louis had absolutely no idea how the hell he managed that) and stumbled over to the couch, stuffing himself in between Louis and Liam and began drooling all over Louis collar bones in what Louis was guessing was supposed to be an extremely sloppy kiss.

“Missed you.” Nick mumbled into his neck.

Louis smiled fondly at his mess of a boyfriend.

“Want to go to sleep, love?” He asked, fully expecting Nick to demand he kick everyone out so they could go to bed.

Nick’s reaction was quite the opposite.

He shot up, knocking the top of his head against Louis’ chin and elbowed Liam in the stomach.

“Absolutely not!” He cried indignantly. “The night is still young and so am I and I demand we do shots!”

Louis quirked an eyebrow. “Shots?”

“Yes. And then we can play those video games you lot love so much. Oh, and let’s get more food too, I’m starving.”

He jumped up and ran off towards the kitchen, four boys looking bewildered after him and Niall trailing along behind him with a shout of “Now we’re talking”.

“That was weird. Or at least I think it was. He’s not usually thrilled to see us here this late,  right?” Liam asked, unsure as to whether this was odd behaviour or if he just wasn’t used to Nick’s antics like Louis and Harry were.

“No definitely weird.” Louis agreed.

He was about to elaborate when they heard a loud gasp from the kitchen followed by a clap of hands and a cheer from Niall who reappeared in the doorway, bottle of Jack Daniels clasped tightly in his hand.

“Harry, make us a cake.”

“What.” Harry deadpanned. “I’m not making you a cake.”

There was a horrified gasp and Nick materialised behind Niall. “What do you mean you’re won’t make us cake?”

Nick’s voice had gone all high pitched as it was wont to do and Louis rubbed tiredly at his temples, trying to figure out where this sudden burst of energy had come from.

“Nicholas, you have work in the morning.”

“Pssht.” Nick waved a hand dismissively. “Work, shmerk.”

“Whatever, do your show hung over. See if I care.”

Louis slumped back into the couch, exchanging looks with Liam and Harry before eyeing Zayn, thinking he should really take a tip out of his friends book and just let them do whatever while he slept on the floor.

But that was also a rather dangerous course of action unless he fancied waking up with dicks drawn all over his face.

“Louis.” Nick whined, dragging out Louis’ name as he crossed their living room and plopped down on top of him. Louis ‘oofed’ a little at the contact.

“Stop being such a party pooper. We’re just having fun.”

Louis hummed conceding, still mildly suspicious about Nick’s sudden enthusiasm for partying with his friends (or Niall at least) and accepted the shot handed to him, figuring it was probably just nothing and Nick would be back to his usual self by tomorrow.

That wasn’t the case, however, when Louis was woken at 5.30am, his head pounding and ears ringing from the sounds of Nick belting out Live While We’re Young in the shower.

He groaned, burying his face under his pillow, desperately trying to tune out the sound of Nick’s wails.

A few minutes later he heard the taps being twisted off and the door opened, Nick stepped into the room looking all too cheery, wrapped up in a fluffy white towel.

Louis raised his head and glared at him.

“Good morning, my wonderful Louis. How are you on this fine morning?”

Louis scowled. “Shouldn’t you be more hung over than I am right now you prick.”

Nick practically beamed at him and flopped down on the bed, pressing himself up against Louis’ side, scattering kisses all over his face.

“I am young, Lewis and I do not let a simple hangover get me down.”

Louis grumbled some unflattering names under his breath and buried his head back in the pillow, but not before shoving Nick off of the bed – which did help him feel slightly better about his morning.

He managed to go back to sleep just after Nick left and woke up again two hours later. He padded out to the kitchen, flicking on the kettle for some tea and downing two paracetamol and decided to flick on the radio to catch the last half of Nick’s show.

The song currently playing was We Are Young by Fun, which Louis thought nothing of. It was when he settled down at the table with his tea and a plate of toast and properly listened to the playlist Nick had thrown together that he began to grown concerned.

Every song Nick played had a theme of being young or youth and when Nick started ranting on about how he was determined not to waste his youth, Louis really started to think.

He was no expert, but Nick was on the worse side of his 20’s and Louis was pretty sure that no longer counted him as a youth.

He thought back to last night and all of Nick’s comments about being young, combined with the events of this morning and concluded that Nick must just be freaking out about his upcoming birthday.

But three months away wasn’t really anything to panic about.

It’s just a phase, he decided, listening to Nick prattle on about a breakfast show flash mob because ‘that’s what all the kids were doing these days’.

This better just be a phase. He shuddered at the thought of Nick trying to rope him into his flash mob.

 

It wasn’t a phase. Louis had never been so tired in his entire life.

Nick was running himself – and Louis – ragged, but every time Louis tried to confront him about it he would get waved off.

Every night Nick would have a different group of friends around for drinks and karaoke and any other god forsaken activities he could come up with.

Whenever Louis even tried to approach him about possibly having a quiet night in he would get told off for being boring and “What would young people everywhere think of you, Louis Tomlinson. You are a 21 year old popstar you need to live a little.”

He wasn’t thrilled by this, but he reasoned with himself that he could at least use his time off to sleep and make up for what he was missing during the night.

Wrong.

Every spare second he had, Nick was dragging him of to somewhere or other. Shopping, movies,  zoo trips, carnivals, clubs. Louis just wanted to rest, he really didn’t think that was so much to ask.

Harry had been noticing too, or at least he admitted that much when Louis approached him about it, but he had simply shrugged off Nick’s behaviour, attributing it to early birthday jitters like Louis originally had.

It was when Louis found himself standing in a dealer looking at motorbikes for Nick to buy when he decided this had gone beyond birthday jitters.

Leaving Nick to fawn over some big, shiny bike he had taken a liking too, Louis pulled out his phone and strolled outside, leaning up against the side of the building and called Harry.

“’lo?” Harry mumbled down the line.

Louis sighed. “I think Nick’s having a midlife crisis.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re excused.” Louis could practically feel Harry’s eye roll through the phone.

“Louis.”

“Oh come on, it’s not that farfetched. You’ve seen how he’s been acting lately.”

“Doesn’t mean he’s having a midlife crisis, Lou. Maybe he’s just bored.”

Louis frowned. “You think I’m boring him?”

“Lou, no. I mean maybe he just wants to get out more or something. I’m sure it’s nothing as serious as you’re making it out to be.”

“Haz, he’s dragged me out to buy himself a motorbike.”

“Wicked. Can I ride it?”

“Harry.”

“Louis.”

“You’re a little shit, you know that.”

“Love you too, Boo.” Louis scowled. “Look, stop worrying okay. Nick’s fine, it’s just a faze he’ll get over it.”

“That’s what I thought.” Louis muttered darkly, accepting the fact that Harry was clearly useless.

“Just give it time, okay?”

Louis nodded, even though he knew Harry couldn’t see him.

“Yeah okay, thanks Haz. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Louis hung up the phone and rested his head back against the wall he was leaning on, closing his eyes, just breathing in the London air.

“Louis.” He opened his eyes and made his way back to where Nick was calling, stopping in his tracks at the sight of his boyfriend, sat atop his new bike in a shiny leather jacket and brand new leather boots along with a black riding helmet with flames along the side.

“Just a phase.” He murmured to himself over and over as he made his way towards Nick, plastering on his best smile. “Looks great babe.”

Just a phase.

 

Harry finally agreed something was wrong when they went into the studio two weeks later for an interview with Nick, only to find Nick clad in what was a very unfortunate representation of every member of One Direction’s style all wrapped up in one.

“Nick, you uh, you look…” Harry trailed off trying to find something to say about Nick’s horrid outfit.

Louis fixed him with an unimpressed look from his seat beside Nick as if to say ‘see?’

“You look nice.” Liam supplied after a moment of awkward silence, elbowing Zayn and Niall when they started to snicker. “Bit different from your usual, innit?”

“Thought I’d try something new.” Nick drawled, kicking his feet up on the table allowing the boys a proper view of his violently pink jeans. “Louis told me I look ridiculous, but I say he’s just jealous that I got to this particular ensemble before him. Look at him he’s practically seething with jealousy.”

Louis was seething with something alright.

They muddled their way through the interview, Louis doing his very best to out-shade Nick on one of his good days – something he had always been quite good at – and completely ignored Paul’s frantic gestures of ‘stop being rude’ at him through the window.

Nick pulled him aside after the interview when they were getting ready to head out to their next appointment.

“Are you mad at me, Lou?”

Even in that hideous outfit, Nick’s sad expression still managed to melt Louis’ heart a little.

“Course not, love. Just a bit of banter, you know the fans love a bit of sass and all.”

Nick hummed, but still looked a bit down. Louis bit his lip and grasped onto Nick’s hand tightly, leaning up to kiss him.

“How about we do lunch?” He asked and Nick’s expression brightened considerably.

“I know this great place.” Nick began, ready to prattle off about some restaurant or another.

“Nick.” Louis cut him off before he could begin. “One thing?”

“Yes, duck?”

“Get changed first. If I arrive and see you still wearing that I’ll stand you up, got it?”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Yes, dear. I’ll text you the address, yeah?”

Louis nodded, kissing Nick goodbye and heading out after an impatient looking  Paul who had been gesturing to him through the window the whole time.

 

He arrived at the address Nick had texted him just after twelve and peered into the window, seeing Nick back in his usual attire. He smiled happily and pushed the door open, strolling in and taking the seat opposite Nick, kicking him in greeting.

“You know I never thought I’d miss your hipster chic, but this is a breath of fresh air, Nicholas.”

“Hello darling, nice day?”

Louis hummed and took a sip of the tea Nick had ready and waiting for him. “Not bad. You?”

Nick launched into some story about Finchy and Tina and something or other and everything was going fine until Nick announced that he had decided to throw a party with a teenage dream theme and really Louis had had enough.

“Nick?”

Nick cut off halfway between his drivel about reliving teenage years. “Yes, Lou?”

“Are you having some sort of midlife crisis?”

Nick stared at him. And stared some more.

Louis stared straight back, refusing to break eye contact, watching as Nick began to shuffle uncomfortably in his seat.

“Well?”

“Why the hell would you ask that?” Nick burst suddenly. “Jesus, Louis, how old do you think I am?”

“Oh come off it, Nick. You know exactly why I’m asking. The drinking, the partying, the atrocious clothes and playlists taken from a teenage girl. For god’s sake you bought a motorbike.”

“Hey my bike is cool.”

“Nick, you know if you’re freaking out about your age or whatever you can just talk to me about it. I know I call you grandpa all the time, but I will say this once, Nick and after I shall deny it vehemently: you’re not that old.”

“Louis.”

“Just talk to me, please babe?”

Nick looked down at the table, fiddling nervously with his tea cup. Louis lifted his foot, nudging it against Nick’s leg in encouragement.

“It’s not that I think I’m _old_. It’s just, you’re so _young_ and you just have all this energy that I can’t even try to compete with. I don’t want you to get bored of me because I’m just some boring nearly 30 year old who can’t keep up with you.”

“Nick.” Louis reached out to cover Nick’s hands with his, the older man pulling them back abruptly at the touch and shoved them under the table, all the while avoiding eye contact.

“Nick, look at me you twat.”

Nick finally lifted his head to meet Louis’ gaze, the younger boy’s eyes filled with understanding and perhaps a little bit of mirth.

“I’m not going to get bored of you because you want to stay in sometimes. Jesus, every time you’ve dragged me out these past few months or insisted we had people around I have absolutely cursed you, Nicholas. I like that you get tired and grumpy and don’t tell them I said this, but I like when you kick the lads out so we can go cuddle in bed. I like being able to just stop and take a break from everything in my life and just sit with you. God, I’m so busy all the time Nick that I don’t want to be busy with you, I Just want us to relax and do whatever we feel like. I’m not a child that you have to entertain at all hours, okay?”

“Are you sure? I mean you’re not just saying that to make me feel better.”

Louis smiled fondly, making his way around the table and plopping down on Nick’s lap, kissing him completely mindless of the people around them.

“Nick, my job keeps me so busy that I never get any time to myself. When I do, I don’t want to spend it with a parade of people or traipsing around London, I want to spend it with you. Sure having company is nice and your spontaneous dates are fun, but we don’t have to do them all the time, it’s alright to just stop for a few days.”

“I’m sorry, Lou.” Louis bumped their foreheads together, their noses brushing lightly against one another.

“Don’t apologize, love. Just don’t make me get out of bed for the next week either.”

Nick laughed, leaning in to kiss Louis, their lips brushing lightly against one another before separating.

“Tell you what, how about I take you home, we can get into bed and we can cuddle and watch those soppy movies you love and well, if the mood strikes…” He leant back and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Louis who grinned at the idea.

“Unfortunately for you , some of us have work to do still.” Nick pouted, Louis smiled and prodded at his protruded lip. “ _But_ when I get home, I fully expect you to be waiting for me in bed and if I see _any_ clothes there’ll be trouble, understood Grimshaw?”

Nick nodded, holding up his hand. “Scouts honour.”

Louis scoffed and scooted off of Nick’s lap, collecting his phone off of the table and bidding Nick farewell, winking back at him when Nick smacked his bum.

 

True to his word, Nick was spread out in their bed when Louis got home that evening, covered in nothing but their light blue bed sheet,  draped across his waist.

Louis smiled happily, stripping down to his underwear and crawled atop Nick’s lap, stroking his hands along Nick’s chest gently.

“So, what are your plans for tonight?” He asked, eyes sparkling mischievously.

“Well,” Nick’s hand slid slowly down Louis’ sides, curving around his back and began kneading at his backside before stilling. “We could go out.”

Louis snorted, leaning down and silencing Nick with a kiss, banishing any thoughts of leaving their bed for the rest of the night. 


End file.
